page_title: Fiesta Nacional de España
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Fiesta Nacional de España / History
caption_attribution_description: Español: El Día de la Fiesta Nacional de España (12 de octubre) tiene lugar un tradicional desfile militar, que incluye unidades de los diferentes ejércitos (del Aire, Armada, Tierra) y cuerpos de seguridad, como la Guardia Civil.
context_page_description: The Fiesta Nacional de España is the national day of Spain. It is held annually on October 12 and is a national holiday. It commemorates the anniversary of Christopher Columbus's first arrival in the Americas, a day also celebrated in other countries.
context_section_description: The anniversary of Columbus' landing in the New World on October 12, 1492, is widely celebrated throughout the Americas. It is known as Columbus Day in the United States and as Día de la Raza in various Hispanic American countries. Celebration of the anniversary in Spain dates to 1935, when the first festival was held in Madrid. The day was known as Día de la Hispanidad, emphasizing Spain's connection to the Hispanidad, the international Hispanic community. On November 27, 1981, a royal decree established Día de la Hispanidad as a national holiday.
  However, on October 7, 1987, the name was changed to Fiesta Nacional, and October 12 became one of two national celebrations, along with Constitution Day on December 6. Spain's "national day" had moved around several times during the various regime changes of the 20th century; establishing it on the day of the international Columbus celebration was part of a compromise between conservatives, who wanted to emphasize the status of the monarchy and Spain's history, and Republicans, who wanted to commemorate Spain's burgeoning democracy with an official holiday. The change in name had the effect of removing all reference to Spain's historical colonialism, and even its ties to Latin America.
  Ever since 2000, October 12 is celebrated each year with a military parade. To commemorate it, there is a military parade (usually held in Madrid) and presided over by the Spanish king, who is the head of state, since Spain is politically organized as a constitutional monarchy. The Prime Minister of Spain (Presidente del Gobierno) has also a special role in the ceremony, only second to that of the king. Then a wide array of authorities, including the ministers of the government, leaders of parliament and others ranging from foreign diplomats deployed in Spain to members of the autonomous governments, are invited to attend the parade performed by the Spanish Armed Forces, which typically features a display by the Spanish Air Force's aerobatics team, the Patrulla Águila. There are no other large-scale patriotic parades, marches, or other events, save in regional capitals, and the observation is generally overshadowed by the feast day of Our Lady of the Pillar, the patroness of Spain's Civil Guard, whose feast day falls on this date.
caption: Spain (October 12) a traditional military parade takes place, The National Holiday Day which includes units of the different armies (Air, Navy, Earth) and security forces, as the Civil Guard.
exif: {"Image Make": "Panasonic", "Image Model": "DMC-TZ40", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "180", "Image YResolution": "180", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Ver.1.0", "Image DateTime": "2014:10:12 11:13:09", "Image Artist": "", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "728", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 3, 0, 0]", "GPS GPSLatitudeRef": "N", "GPS GPSLatitude": "[40, 24, 3659/100]", "GPS GPSLongitudeRef": "W", "GPS GPSLongitude": "[3, 41, 159/5]", "GPS GPSAltitudeRef": "0", "GPS GPSAltitude": "0", "GPS GPSTimeStamp": "[10, 0, 51]", "GPS GPSStatus": "A", "GPS GPSMeasureMode": "2", "GPS GPSDOP": "9/5", "GPS GPSImgDirectionRef": "T", "GPS GPSImgDirection": "495/2", "GPS GPSMapDatum": "WGS-84", "GPS GPSProcessingMethod": "[65, 83, 67, 73, 73, 0, 0, 0, 71, 80, 83, 0, 0, 0]", "GPS GPSAreaInformation": "[85, 78, 73, 67, 79, 68, 69, 0, 255, 254, 67, 0, 97, 0, 105, 0, 120, 0, 97, 0, ... ]", "GPS GPSDate": "2014:10:12", "Image GPSInfo": "13058", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 50, 53, 48, 0, 0, 14, 0, 1, 0, 22, 0, ... ]", "Image Tag 0xC6D2": "[0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, ... ]", "Image Tag 0xC6D3": "[0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, ... ]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "180", "Thumbnail YResolution": "180", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "14836", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "8881", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/80", "EXIF FNumber": "53/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "250", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Standard Output Sensitivity", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2014:10:12 11:13:09", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2014:10:12 11:13:09", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "619/128", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "103/5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "4896", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3672", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "13666", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "115", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "High gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal"}